Doctor for the Day
by goldiejefferson
Summary: I just felt there was so much in this episode that could have prompted further conversation between the Doctor and Rose. Darn you Adam for being there in the first place! First attempt at capturing the 9th's voice.


Rose needed to talk to the Doctor. As she led Adam down the Tardis corridor that was the one thought growing more urgent with each step. Adam fired non-stop questions at her and the excitement she initially felt showing him around the Tardis quickly faded. He continued to question her on different energy supplies, landing capabilities, temporal distortions, timelines, physics and soon it got too much. She planted him in the Library hoping that the thousands (_yes Adam‚ thousands)_ of books would safely distract him. Her head was throbbing with questions and confessions of her own that could only be answered by one person.

The thrum of the time rotor told her the Doctor had sent them into the Vortex. Rose glanced in the console room, kitchen and medical bay without finding the Doctor. She started wandering down random corridors and entering rooms that appeared to have no discernable purpose. There was the room full of boxes stacked at odd angles and unimaginable heights. The one with nothing but rain and the occasional flash of lightning. When she opened an ornate steel door and heard a lion's roar she swore and slammed it shut, declaring her search over. If the Doctor wanted to stay hidden tonight so be it.

But as she turned around to go back to her own room, light filtered out into the hallway from a door across the hall. A deep, rich mahogany door stood where the metal Tardis corridor had been a moment before. She ran her hands across the wood and it felt solid and old under her fingertips. With a slight push Rose found herself stepping into a weapons room. Stone under foot and on the walls transformed the space into something out of a medieval castle. She half expected to see Arthur and his knights at the round table. Instead there were tables and shelves full of weapons of all shapes and sizes. Some were immediately recognizable; six foot spears with elaborate feathers on top, maces in various colors, throwing stars, pistols, rifles, boomerangs, slingshots. Others only looked mysteriously lethal. Vials of colored liquid, laser guns, a lucite box of tiny metal spikes hopping on their own. The room was full to the brim with overt and covert tools of violence.

In the center of it all, quite still among the weapons of destruction, sat the Doctor. His eyes followed her as she navigated the space between them. She smiled tentatively, happy to have found him at last, but her smile faded when she glanced down at his lap. The laser gun he had in the bunker lay silent and threatening across his knees, larger than she remembered it. Seeing it brought her words - no - her accusations, rushing back.

_It's not the one pointing the gun at me._

_And what about you Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?_

The Doctor noticed her changed demeanor and slid over on the bench - a silent invitation. She sat down and immediately felt the chill of the stone through her jeans. She shivered involuntarily.

"You cold?" the Doctor said glancing at her.

"Nah. Though it's not so warm and cheery here, is it? What is this place, Doctor?"

"Armoury," he replied curtly.

"I got that, yeah. But, I guess, why do you need an Armoury?" the question hung out there between them and he was silent for so long she didn't think he heard her.

"What did you do with pretty boy?" the Doctor replied. Rose held back her snippy response. The air between them was strained and she needed to sift through it. Find a way to get through to him and get some things said.

"Left him in the Library. Reckon we may not get 'im out of there for a while. I needed to...I wanted..." Rose hesitated thinking of what she really wanted to say and instead looked down at the gun. When the Doctor had found her with the Dalek she was struck by how awkwardly he carried it. He had been uncertain and shaky as he pointed it at her - no, not her - at the Dalek. Now, he cradled it, holding it almost reverently.

"Why do you still have that?" she asked.

She half expected him to throw out another Adam related question. Or start rambling on about the history of the weapon itself. How it was from a forgotten race on a planet with blood red oceans or something. But he didn't.

"You and the Dalek were right," he started softly. "I'm not sure what I'm changing into. What I may already have become." He paused and she wondered if he was going to continue. "I was ready to use this," the Doctor lifted the gun up to his eye level for emphasis.

"Doctor, it was…" Rose started but the Doctor interrupted her.

"No, Rose, don't. When the Dalek was still in its cage, helpless and chained, I tried to kill it. I flipped every switch I could hoping one of them would do the trick. When that didn't work I tried something different. I ordered it to kill itself. It was looking for orders so I gave it one. Me. Can you imagine that?" he scoffed bitterly, glancing at her. "I'm the Doctor. Never cruel or cowardly, always trying to make people better. At least that's how I imagined myself. Certainly didn't live up to my name today," sighing he lowered the gun to the ground. "I would have used that, if not for you."

Rose gently laid her hand on his back, feeling the tension through his leather armour. The Doctor took a deep breath leaning back and when Rose dropped her hand he gently took it in his own, entwining their fingers together and brushing the outside of her hand with his thumb. Rose turned towards him. As usual he was shouldering all the blame and she had come looking for him so she could admit her guilt and beg his forgiveness.

"Doctor, you may have ordered it to kill itself but when I was in the cage, the Dalek told me... it said it was dyin'. And I felt so badly for it. I didn't know what it was, what it had done to you and your people, what it was going to do..." her voice trailed off. Saying it out loud for the first time was chilling. Once she started, Rose's confession didn't stop. "I touched it. It came to life 'cause of me didn't it? When I put my hand on it, I did something. It killed all those people because of something I gave it."

The Doctor put his hands on her shoulders facing her. "Rose, you didn't do anything. The Dalek used you, your compassion, your goodness to get you to touch it. And then it used your energy to regenerate. But when it killed, it did that because it was a Dalek. That's all it knew how to do. But when it _didn't _kill, _that _was what you did. That was all you," he shook his head at her in pure admiration. "Rose Tyler. Twenty-first century shop girl. You tamed the most feared enemy in all the universe."

"But I ordered it to kill itself too," Rose admitted.

"No, Rose. It asked you to die. It asked for it's freedom. There's a universe of difference, don't ya see?" the Doctor's hand cupped her cheek and his eyes begged her to understand.

"Rose, today you were more of the Doctor than I was."

He pulled her against his shoulder when she started crying again. As the hitches in her breath became more sporadic she rubbed her cheek softly against his jacket.

"It's not waterproof ya know," the Doctor chuckled softly.

Rose raised her head and wiped her eyes and nose. Her tears had left a dark smear on the leather and she patted it gently, actually making it worse in the process.

"Just seasoning it for ya," she said smiling at him and noticing with pleasure a small smile in return.

The Doctor reached down to grab the gun at his feet, prompting Rose to ask again.

"You never did say why you have all of this," spreading her arms out wide.

"Well, over the years I started finding things, weapons mainly, that are in places or times they shouldn't be. Needed a place to put them so the Tardis created the Armoury Room. I pick 'em up and bring 'em here. Always meaning to clear some of this out and bring it back to where it belongs. Just never seem to get around to it."

"A Time Lord with no time?" Rose's tongue pokes out between her teeth slightly.

"Somethin' like that," he replied with a large grin. "Best file this away with the other _out of time _items." Standing up he walked over to a table of gun shaped items and dropped it on the top.

"Nice filin' system you got there," Rose joked.

They walked towards the door and Rose looped her arm in his leaning against it, "You know, Doctor, you've made me better."

They had come to the doorway and the Doctor looked down at her.

"Nah. Rose Tyler. Can't improve upon the best."


End file.
